Please Say Yes
by The Genius Mage
Summary: Rating to be safe. Rhyme stared at the gun, then at Joshua, and realized what he was asking her to do...for him. Joshyme.


--_Please Say Yes--_

The words seemed to hang in the air like fireflies, and echoed in her ears like the clanging of some far distant bells.

_Ding, dong, ding, dong..._

"Joshua…" Her eyes sparkled brightly, like bright blue suns. Her words seemed to snag in her throat like they were thorns. He stared at her, his inhuman violet eyes searching hers. She _knew_ he wasn't human, wasn't human at all. A Reaper, an Angel, she didn't know. But he was dead. And somehow she had fallen in love with him. They had both known this was going to happen, the point when she reached his "age", the age his physical body appeared in.

Raimu Bito, age fifteen, was being offered the ultimate choice from Shibuya's only Composer. It was a gun, something so deadly in the form of a silver and black metal contraption. He was presenting it to her, and Rhyme looked up, seeing in those amethyst orbs the desperate longing, the look that seemed to say--_yes, please say yes!_

She closed her eyes and gave a deep, world weary sigh. She felt like she was being torn apart. Rhyme had prized friendship and family above all else, that was before she had formally met Yoshiya Kiryu and he stole her heart. Rhyme had wanted to change him, hoping to see a glimpse of the real Joshua. Not the person having had been Composer for so long that he lost all human traits, but the kid that had decided to be Composer in the first place. She wanted to meet that boy, and to remind Joshua that he didn't have to be so manipulative all the time.

Rhyme also knew that _he_ was changing _her._

What if she said yes? _What if she did?_ Beat would be mortified, she could only act like she was alive for so long before she stopped ageing and he noticed. It was even possible that Beat would follow her…and she couldn't allow that.

But the idea of going on with her life, appearing older than Joshua, made her want to claw at her heart. That absolutely could not happen…But what to do? Rhyme opened her eyes slightly so that sapphire slits appeared on her face, pale with fear and confusion. The gun glittered innocently in the yellow lamplight of her room, and dust motes hovered around it like golden fairies.

Joshua was silently watching her, but every time she met his narrowed gaze, she knew what he was thinking. _Yes, please say yes._

The question had been, with the extending of the hand with the gun, in the softest tone she had ever heard him use, "Will you live forever with me?"

As a Reaper. _His_ Reaper. She was helpless sometimes, blissfully so, remembering every gentle touch and teasing kiss, soft words spoken in the dark when it was just him and her…Secrets shared between them that no one else would ever hear.

Oh yes, in this dim, semi-lit room, Rhyme once again felt like it was just Joshua and her alone in the world. When she finally spoke, her voice cracked with the stress, and part of her was angry at Joshua for putting her in this situation. "What about my family? Beat? Or Neku, Shiki, Eri…"

Joshua smirked, tipping her head up with his fingers. The feeling of his hand on her skin was uncomfortably well-known, and continued to send shockwaves through her system. She closed her eyes so she didn't have to look into his pleading stare.

The Composer of Shibuya, begging? Impossible. But it was happening.

"Oh Raimu, dear…" In those three words she heard the weariness in his tone, but she also heard the deep affection. She knew she returned those feelings with every quickened, fluttering heartbeat that her body gave off for him.

But Joshua's heart had long ago stopped, and yet still he felt his own aching. He had fallen hard for this girl, the younger Bito, and never wished to get up, no matter what kind of vulnerability it gave him. To the Composer, it was like dying slowly…or living quickly. Both long forgotten.

"What about them?" Joshua said slowly.

"They'll be devastated. That's why I don't think I can, Josh. I can't." Her tone implored him to understand, and she opened her eyes to search the pale lavender orbs of her best friend…and maybe something more.

He looked at her silently for a moment, and for a single second she saw that person she hated. The cold, reclusive Composer with the flat, expressionless eyes. In his mirror like violet orbs, she saw herself reflected perfectly back. Apologetic. A figure in the darkness of her room with the small lamp casting the lonely tawny glow.

How could she possibly hate and love someone at the same time? This train of thought was brought to a screeching, screaming halt in her head as Joshua suddenly pressed his lips to hers. She had been kissed plenty of times before my him, but there was something _stronger_ in this kiss. A ferocious, half desperate desire, asking her to change her mind. His tongue explored the inside of her mouth in a familiar fashion, and she shivered, closing her eyes helplessly.

Because one of the worst things about Joshua was the fact that he made her powerless…and she didn't mind it at all. She should, by all the powers above and below, but she didn't.

Even when he broke away, Joshua continued to trace dizzying patterns against her skin with his fingers. "Is that your final answer?"

Was it? Was it indeed? Rhyme closed her eyes and shook her head. "I—I don't know. Maybe?" Her voice was hesitant, unsure. But she could hardly think straight with Joshua doing to her what he was.

He paused his hand's movements briefly before continuing. "Rhyme, dear, take the time you need."

She shook her head but then nodded only a few seconds afterwards. "Alright…but I really do love you, Joshua."

He nodded in agreement and said, "I love you too."

~***~

Raimu Bito, age fifteen, has been fifteen for the last five years.

~***~

_**Well, um…this is angst filled isn't it? That's the point. I rarely do darker stories and this was a possible arc to the Joshyme relationship that I hadn't explored.**_

_**I fail at angst or whatever the heck this is, if you want to flame me about it, you can review. **_


End file.
